He pulls me onto the dance floor, which is now filled with patrons swinging and twirling. Adrian dips through the crowd, staggering toward the stairs.
Graylen wraps his hands around my waist, gripping me tightly. The music is fast-paced, but he dances with me as if it’s a slow and melodic lovers’ tune.
“I forgot Adrian was with us.” I cringe, slipping my arms around his neck.
It wasn’t onpurpose—even if there’s still unresolved anger between Adrian and me, I wouldn’t want to shove my relationship with Graylen in his face. Even if that relationship is…strained at the moment. I won’t hide it, but I don’t want to purposefully hurt him.
The thoughts cause me to pause. In Penyth, I was so angry at him that I didn’t blink twice about lashing out at him with my shadows. Maybe friendships that are broken can sometimes find a way to be mended.
“I don’t want to talk about Adrian right now,” Graylen says with a shrug.
His fingers dig into my flesh, one hand resting just above the soft dip along my side, and the other pressed low against my spine. He rests his forehead against mine, the world around us melting away for a moment.
His scent envelops me, the fresh smell of rain about to fall filling my nose and clearing my mind. He begins rubbing lazy circles against my lower back, and my clear mind quickly turns into a frazzled mess.
Everything about this moment—the feel of Graylen’s rough, large palms impressing a line of warmth across my waist and back, the smell of his fresh and calming scent surrounding me…
It’s almost perfect.
But there’s still the nagging reminder of all we’ve yet to face. And at some point, we have to.
“Stay in this moment with me, Lu,”he begs lightly in my thoughts.“Our problems will still be here tomorrow.”
People spin and jump around us, but we sway to our own unhurried song.
Graylen leans back, his eyes hooded as a lazy smile tugs at his lips.
Before I can answer, his hands reach for mine, removing them from his neck. The banjo player starts a new song, the tune light and quick as his fingers pluck at the strings.
The crowd begins to stomp in rhythm, and people partner up across the room.
Graylen flashes me a smile that matches the mischief in his eyes, and I try to pull away, knowing he’s up to something. Hisgrip tightens on my hands, and he yells over the music and laughter, “Trust me?”
I stop pulling away, my body shifting back toward him.
Realization clicks into place. There’s no one else in this realm I trust more than Graylen. He’s been with meeverystep of the way.
“Of course I do,” I rasp. “Always.”
His eyes crinkle at the corners, his gaze shining with so much joy that it nearly sends me to my knees. But the happiness is quickly replaced with a wicked playfulness that has me shaking my head, laughing as I back away.
I let myself forget the problems of tomorrow, relishing in the buzz from the ale and the pounding of the music.
He clutches my hand, and before I can back away entirely, he spins me in a series of twirls. Not one, not two, butthreetwirls, my vision spinning with an array of smiling faces and dancing, moving bodies.
I don’t realize he’s rotating me toward him until my back bumps against his chest and his arms wrap around my body. His chest rumbles as he laughs into my ear, the shape of his smile pressed against my neck as he holds me close.
Though my head sways, my face splits into a grin so wide that my cheeks begin to ache.
I can’t tell if it’s the ale still warming my chest or the way Graylen is looking at me, but what I do know is that I don’t want this night to end.
Forty-Seven
Arcus Obsidian
We’rea tangle of limbs and lips meeting as we stumble up the stairs to our room. We pass someone drunkenly knocked out on the steps, but it doesn’t stop us. There’s no one we know here, no one we need tolookor act a certain way for.
The days to come won’t be like that. Lu is going to be Amira when we get back to the castle, and I’m going to be something I hate. SomeoneI hate. The Prince’s Snake isn’t me—it was always a persona I wore like a second skin.
